Drying of edibles in winnowing basket is a common sight in India. However, this system suffers from many disadvantages such as dust falling in the contents, long drying time and no protection from animals and rain. In order to overcome these defects, the project designed a simple inexpensive solar dryer that can be fabricated at a local level. Two similar units (a bigger and a smaller one) consists of a tray-shaped structure made of bamboo with slanted sides for wider incidence of sun light. It is covered with black resin for better sunlight absorption and provided with a transparent high density PE-sheet for easy lifting for loading contents. The new big design costs US$ 5 in South India; the small one, US$ 2. Experiments reveal that on an average these novel and innovative solar driers save half the drying time with simultaneous improved hygienic conditions and outside influence protection.